Monday, April 17, 2006
Reservations / Quota Raj
I feel sorry to start on a negative note, but I don't understand why are we moving backwards even though consciously we know, the right choices, we have to make to push for the overall growth. I appreciate Indian Government's "noble" intentions & concerns for the upliftment of poor and needy of the Indian society but that should not come at the expense of India's future and overall degradation in the longer term. Demographic analysis suggests that India will be the youngest country in terms of working population for many years to come in the future, in that case our main objective & priority should be to provide quality education to the present and future generation. So it is our goal to maximize the opportunities for every aspiring student but not denying them by introducing Quota system. Going ahead with the proposed reservation will only do harm to this objective.
And why are we only talking about IITs and IIMs? There is a need for revolutionary change to be brought about in the basic elementary education system as well as in other fields like health care, agriculture, basic science research & development etc. A country can’t be functional and progress towards growth with only engineers from IITs or Management Professionals from IIMs, we need quality doctors to take care of health care, good teachers to shape the future generation, well educated agricultural scientists and farmers for more green revolutions in states like Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka & to prevent the sad events of suicides committed by poor farmers, a pool of good scientist to promote the R&D to utilize the country’s natural resources to satisfy the growing needs of population.
There are ways which are better than the option of 49% reservation in Government regulated institutions to bring quality education to India's real poor and needy. And if we are talking about only IITs and IIMs, then the most obvious and ideal would be to increase the number of seats in elite institutes like IITs/IIMs & elevating the infrastructure and standards of institutes like NITs (RECs) and Government Institutions because I feel, the current structure doesn't really cater to the requirement; considering the large population of India.
Even in the case of reservations, I do understand the need for social security net for the backward class; I mean "Financially backward class" which I think is the more appropriate term to define India's real poor & in need people because the more realistic assessment of "Who needs reservation?" should be done based purely on financial condition or per annum income of a family irrespective of the class and caste. And once this assessment is done, more emphasis should be laid on a rigorous implementation or execution of the policy for the benefit to the grass root level and to ensure that purpose of reservation is fulfilled.
Today it is not the same case as it was 50-60 years back. We would be fundamentally wrong to divide the society on a sheer basis of caste & class in today's age. Now, it would be really great to see Indian Government taking a more practical and rational approach to resolve this issue for the benefit of whole Indian society, keeping aside the short term political aspirations & gains. ¶ 2:23 PM
And why are we only talking about IITs and IIMs? There is a need for revolutionary change to be brought about in the basic elementary education system as well as in other fields like health care, agriculture, basic science research & development etc. A country can’t be functional and progress towards growth with only engineers from IITs or Management Professionals from IIMs, we need quality doctors to take care of health care, good teachers to shape the future generation, well educated agricultural scientists and farmers for more green revolutions in states like Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka & to prevent the sad events of suicides committed by poor farmers, a pool of good scientist to promote the R&D to utilize the country’s natural resources to satisfy the growing needs of population.
There are ways which are better than the option of 49% reservation in Government regulated institutions to bring quality education to India's real poor and needy. And if we are talking about only IITs and IIMs, then the most obvious and ideal would be to increase the number of seats in elite institutes like IITs/IIMs & elevating the infrastructure and standards of institutes like NITs (RECs) and Government Institutions because I feel, the current structure doesn't really cater to the requirement; considering the large population of India.
Even in the case of reservations, I do understand the need for social security net for the backward class; I mean "Financially backward class" which I think is the more appropriate term to define India's real poor & in need people because the more realistic assessment of "Who needs reservation?" should be done based purely on financial condition or per annum income of a family irrespective of the class and caste. And once this assessment is done, more emphasis should be laid on a rigorous implementation or execution of the policy for the benefit to the grass root level and to ensure that purpose of reservation is fulfilled.
Today it is not the same case as it was 50-60 years back. We would be fundamentally wrong to divide the society on a sheer basis of caste & class in today's age. Now, it would be really great to see Indian Government taking a more practical and rational approach to resolve this issue for the benefit of whole Indian society, keeping aside the short term political aspirations & gains. ¶ 2:23 PM
